Milk & Honey
by Measured
Summary: Greece has a 'traditional Greek cooling down method' which he shares with Japan. Spoilers: It's just an excuse to make out. Greece/Japan.


Title: Milk & Honey  
Series: Hetalia  
Character/Pairing: Greece/Japan  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: Greece has a 'traditional Greek cooling down method' which he shares with Japan. Spoilers: It's just an excuse to make out. Greece/Japan.  
Author's note: kink meme: hot and delicious without sex.

To commemorate (?) the insane heatwave here that happened over the summer.. Up here is usually known for the cold, but our 94% humidity and 70 degrees in the middle of the night beg to differ.

The prompt is taken quite literally.

Also for re_weird's birthday.

**.**

The cats sleep on every odd place. They lay on the floors, their sides rising and falling. Lay back, barely moving. Kiku rests like they do He's taking it better than some of the other guests have taken it, though how much of it is simply Kiku's unfailing politeness, Herakles doesn't know.

He thinks of an old cure for the heat, so old that most have forgotten it. His mother's, in fact. His mind goes back to naked bodies, when gods interacted with men, and the cities that were. As he rises, he remembers heat waves and hair in loose buns, togas and sandals over dusty roads.

The heat has never affected him much.

He pads out to the kitchen, and displaces a resting calico gently with his foot so he can open the refrigerator door. Inside is a glass bottle milk with a curved neck, like a waist. He prefers glass, for it keeps things cooler better than the alternatives.

He pours it out into a cup and pulls out a jar of honey. It's turning sugary from age, but it's still good enough. On a last thought, he brings the whole bottle of milk with him. Cats twitch as he walks by, considering getting up.

He presses the bottle against Kiku's neck. Kiku shudders and gasp, his breath making a fluttering sound. It reminds him of the noise Kiku makes when Herakles first moves into him, when their bodies connect.

"Herakles...san?"

"It will help," Herakles says.

He smiles, lopsided and lifts Kiku's chin just enough so he can drink. It's as if Kiku is deadly ill and he is taking care of him. White milk spills from his lips, down over his chest. It is a hot day indeed when he is able to get Kiku to strip down this much out of the baths.

He leans down to lap up the milk before the cats can even think of getting up. Kiku gasps again at the contrast, the moisture and texture of his tongue. Kiku arches his back, catlike, his toes curl, and his breath hitches.

He tastes salty, faintly green in the way only Kiku can manage. Behind him, one of the cats sniffs indignantly at their meal stolen from them.

"Sorry, cat...This one's all mine."

He opens the jar of honey and sticks a finger in, and drizzles it over Kiku's lips. Kiku licks at the honey, at his finger still resting there. His cheeks are flushed and Herakles thinks it's from more than just the heat.

He draws his sticky fingers across Kiku's cheeks and kisses him. The heat of their soft mouths rivals the heat wave outside, and yet it's the sweetest thing he's ever tasted. Their tongues brush over each other, soft textures and heat. He isn't affected, though Kiku seems to encompass all the heat, trap it in his body like a glass enclosure magnifying things.

Or perhaps this is just his perception.

He touches Kiku's hair with his non-sticky hand. It's damp with sweat, but he doesn't care. He can't quite cuddle now, instead opting for a space between them where only their hands and mouths meet. Kiku's hand is on his chest, limply brushing over him. They're rolled over on their sides for ease, and he's refraining from touching Kiku too much, because Kiku has always said his touch is very hot, and that on cold nights he might as well be a portable heater.

It's hard, though. Hard not to touch every part of him when he's here and _his._ Sometimes he's afraid it'll all be a dream or some figment, some comatose Elysium he wakes from to find instead a grey, pale Asphodel is his existence.

But when their lips part, sticky and wet, it's no dream. He even bites his lips to be sure. Kiku is looking like he's contemplating thanking Herakles for the kiss, so Herakles brushes his finger across his lips and kisses the edge to stop the thank yous before they come.

Instead, Kiku pushes himself up. "Now I'm going to need to shower."

"See? Traditional Greek cooling method," Herakles says with a smile.


End file.
